'Turkish Engineering in the Centenary of the Republic of Turkey' Workshop Started with Opening Ceremony at PAU

The opening ceremony held at Pamukkale University Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Yılmaz Congress and Culture Center started with a moment of silence and the reading of the National Anthem.

The opening ceremony of the workshop titled 'Turkish Engineering in the Centennial of the Republic of Turkey' continued with a music concert performed by PAU students followed by a cinevision show about how PAU Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Technology has developed since its establishment.

In the ceremony that continued with opening speeches, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Technology Prof. Dr. Osman Nuri Ağdağ and Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kutluhan made their speeches.

Dean Ağdağ said: "It is the works of Turkish engineering that show our level of development and ensure the welfare and peace of the country. In this sense, I also commemorate with mercy and gratitude the Turkish engineers who have been martyred by various terrorist organizations since the republic."

In his opening speech, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Technology Prof. Dr. Osman Nuri Ağdağ said the following: "The great leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of our Republic, perhaps gave us the light and signal of this lifelong learning in 1924. In the first years of the republic, what was primarily emphasized for the development of engineering for the development of science and technology was transportation, and the development of railways in relation to transportation was the most important issue that was emphasized in the first years of the republic. Then, in 1933, the first 5-year development plan was made and in this first 5-year development plan, many different sectors appeared as elements that needed to be developed. Later, in the second 5-year development plan, these sectors were further developed. Then, respectively, the Electricity Survey Administration, Sümerbank, the establishment of Karabük Iron and Steel Factory, and the establishment of sugar factories are our work on engineering and technology in the first years and later stages of the republic. In addition to the achievements in engineering and technology in the years that followed our work as a country, in addition to the achievements of the state, the private sector, inspired by these achievements, started to produce and develop. When we approach the present day, you watched the cinevision show a moment ago. Our country has made great and very important breakthroughs in the automotive industry and the defense industry. The UAVs, UCAVs, helicopters that have been built cannot be counted for a long time. All such works are the works of Turkish engineering that show our level of development and ensure the welfare and peace of the country. In this sense, I also commemorate with mercy and gratitude the Turkish engineers who have been martyred by various terrorist organizations since the Republic. We organized our workshop in partnership with the faculties of engineering and technology in order to develop an activity in the 100th anniversary of the Republic, to make a note of it, and at the same time to transfer the experiences of the valuable participants who we invited to our students and who did not break us and to shed light on their development. In this context, I would like to thank all our friends who are in the organizing committee of the symposium and all our friends who work devotedly. In addition, I would like to thank MAKSİAD, one of these companies, Denizli Organized Industrial Zone Directorate, Merkezefendi Municipality, Denizli Metropolitan Municipality, Pamukkale Municipality, various textile companies that support our symposium as sponsors. Dear students, very valuable participants from many different fields of engineering will make presentations to you during these two days. Please listen carefully to these presentations, ask questions to our participants and aim to gain maximum benefit from this workshop. I would like to thank everyone who contributed a lot."

Rector Kutluhan: "Turkish engineers have made a great contribution to engineering in Turkey because they are the engineers who make life easier and build our country"

In his speech at the ceremony, Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kutluhan said: "Pamukkale University is in its thirty-first year, but we can actually say that Pamukkale University is an engineering university. Pamukkale University was founded in 1976 and started with engineering as an affiliate of Dokuz Eylül University. Therefore, the oldest faculty among us is our engineering faculty. As a result of this, we expect the biggest contribution from them, they have done this, and we want them to do even bigger things. Pamukkale University has almost crowned the 100th anniversary of our Republic. If we say a hundred events, maybe we are wrong because more than a hundred events were organized. We are preparing a book about this. Among these events, the faculty of engineering organized a symposium on one hundred years of accumulation of medicine and one hundred years of accumulation of engineering. Of course, as medical professionals, we invited our professors who are the same age as our Republic in the hundred-year accumulation of medicine. These professors grew up with the Republic and we had the opportunity to listen to their stories from every period. 

Of course, Turkish engineers have made a great contribution to engineering in our country because they are the engineers who make life easier and build our country. Wherever we see something right now, it bears the signature of an engineer. I would like to thank all our engineers who have taken our country to the next level in the air, land and sea. They are protecting our country and will continue to do so. Engineering is not the office of claim. An engineer is the authority of proof. Therefore, what do they prove themselves with? They show themselves to us with the concrete products they produce. Therefore, dear students, if you want to be remembered in the future, if you want to invest in the future, you need to calculate the contributions you will make to our country and humanity now. Our Faculty of Engineering has made many developments. I would like to thank them very much for these. Especially in TEKNOFEST competitions, which have now become a tradition in our country, they add success to their success every year, with the contributions of both our students and our professors. I would like to thank them. On average, we are ranked fifth among universities. Our Faculty of Engineering was included in the international index for the first time.